#i am calling authors like natsuki takaya or any others

[filliteapot]

I'm going to use this part of what you said in a previous answer that made me really curious "the way of the authors to tell the story is another matter" to know your top 5 (or ~10) of that :)

Ah :D I guess the easier way to put it would be “This time I chose my favourite styles basing on art style mostly, but if I were to choose my fav storytelling/mix of art and how authors tells it/what they want to transmit, the odrer/the list would be different” :”) So some authors/stories on the list of my fav storytelling (not sure if it's the right term for what i mean but let's use this) are the same I put in the previous list. The titles and authors won’t be surprise for you, but I’ll list them anyway. Warning: I love talking about such things a lot, so I suddenly wrote a lot.

(Ask me my top 5-10 anything)

1. Literally anything by Takaya Natsuki. You have no idea how #tired I am of all the discussions about both adaptations of her Furuba (which is better which is worse no listen to me bc I Have an Opinion of High Authority) when not a single adaptation quite got her style in storytelling, foreshadowing and especially presenting her characters’ personal drama. I think I espcially love her for not throwing it all in your face right away, being careful at hinting at things (so that you don’t quite get some parts of the characters’ thoughts and inner struggles until you learn the facts and it hits you) and for leaving you some space to use your own brain what you think about this or that storyline. (Tamura Yumi does it too which makes her my second fave author). Also, years after reading and rereading her works I see better how storylines are entwinted and unfolding, and it still makes me yell “HOW does she do it” every time I go back to Furuba and her other works and see something new. I love her Hoshi wa Utau (which hits hard and is painfully real in the matter of parents/children’s conflicts), and Liselotte to majo no mori (darkish fairytale with hopeful messages) and wish more people knew about them too, not only Furuba.

2. Kouno Fumiyo’s Yunagi no Machi Sakura no Kuni. I first read this manga a long time ago and was dying of happiness when it got published in my country bc oh my gosh. It’s a historical thing, it’s a heavy thing, she does have such unique style (my first thought was ”ah looks cute, like children books illustrations” and then it killed me) and approach to place panels on pages or transitions between scenes or past and present (I think some comic researcher or smth even called it innovative). The page that struck me the most was a spread near the end of this story, presenting a character in his older years sitting on the beach of a river in Hiroshima and him in the same place right after the war. Perhaps it doesn’t sound so original but this work and these two pages live rent free in my soul to this day.

3. Ando Yuki’s oneshots (and Machida-kun). She is my favourite short stories author, she just knows how to tell it so that I got tuned in from the start. Be it a school slice of life or basically Edith Piaf’s song Hymne à l'amour presented in the form of manga oneshot, they give me immense joy. And oh, there’s almost always a twist near the ending I can’t predict. Her characters act a bit weird and take weird decisions sometimes but I think it’s what makes them feel so real to me.

And it’s cheating, but while I’m talking about oneshots, I want to mention Midorikawa Yuki and her shorter-than-Natsume stories. Because they give me a similar feeling to Ando’s oneshots - the atmosphere is different, but the way they touch my heart is the same. Don’t get me wrong, I love Natsume and its structure (main characters and their personal jouney through unrelated stories of other people/not humans), but I love Midorikawa’s shorter stories much more.

4. Takamatsu Misaki’s Skip to Loafer. One of the best slice stories I’ve ever read. Right amount of drama and comedy, a cast of characters with different problems and motivations. I can’t help but think “Oh I wish I were able to create a story like this one day”. Also, someone wrote about it: “let me live the wholesome high school life i didnt have” and ugh I felt it :”))

5. Yazawa Ai’s stories: Nana and Gokinjo Monogatari. Did “Nee, Nana” moments kill my soul every time it was used in the story? Yes, absolutely. Did it make me cry? Don’t even ask.

6. Nishi Keiko’s stories: Otoko no Isshou, Koi to Gunkan. A person I know described her stories like this: “If life goes the wrong way, it’s better to go home”, and I think it sums it up. Both of the stories I listed are about ordinary life in small towns, they both me melancholic and somehow cozy feeling. Both stories have themes and characters that don’t really interest me much, but when I read them, I usually cry. It’s another A+ slice of life author imo.

7. Tsukuba Sakura’s Mekakushi no Kuni. It’s dear to me for special reasons. There a girl who sometimes sees future when touches other people, there is a boy who sees the past all the time he does the same, there’s another boy... And NO evil organizations chasing them for their superpowers, NO global plots or problems or author’s will to condemn society, no deep philosophy questions about time and so on. Just normal slice of life of not so normal peoplewho try to cope with this particularity they have and fit the world they live in. (I wish authors realized the potential of such slice of life centered urban fantasy but they keep failing me aiming at the Global, sigh)

8. Torino Nanko’s Toripan. It’s basically authors essays on her daily life and mostly birdwatching, but ugh it’s so good. Peak comedy about birds and heartfelt pages for when she speaks about her memories or remarks on nature, it’s so full of love towards this world and life. After I read Toripan I feel like I become kinder and better :DD

(author’s A+ faces and haiku about sparrows in the winter)

9. Watanuki Yoshiko’s Manatsu no Delta. I read it some time ago and my first thought was “Wow, this IS how you touch an unpleasant yet existing problem”. I’ll certainly be waiting for this author’s other works.

10. Ikuemi Ryo’s stories, especially the ones featuring metaphorical ghosts (Kiyoku Yawaku, Torch Song Ecology) and Taiyou ga Mite Iru. Joseis with ghosts are my fave thing on earth, and Ikuemi’s great at it. But she can make any theme totally worth digging into, be it school life or cheating and complicated family relationships. I think TGM is her work that left the deepest trace in my soul because I was reading it when it was ongoing, for three years, and it’s basically just something that makes you die slowly looking at how not so bad people fk up their life decisions bc of their unresolved traumas and issues but you can’t take your eyes of it and then need several years of therapy after reading such manga. And she doesn’t even preech or say you should not live like this. She’s like “this is a life story I want to tell, take whatever you want from it” and I’m like “gooosh this is so painful and looks so real and makes me feel things, I love it”. Ikuemi Power as it is. (Life teaches me nothing, I lowkey want to read something like TGM again and Akaneda Yuki’s Saraba Yoki Hi fulfills this wish of mine, but uh I’m so glad it’s rarely updated)

(text: Nire is here to kill me)

Thanks for such ask, it was fun :D

[daniellethamasa]

Hey all, Dani here.

Okay, so this post is a little bit later than usual. We just got home from Damian’s grandpa’s funeral. It was a long day of driving and waiting and all the emotion and everything that goes along with saying goodbye to a family member. He had a pretty good life, he went peacefully, and he had 73 years of a life of adventure and jokes. So, he will be missed, but there will always be good memories of him.

Anyway, welcome back to my weekly post where I talk about everything that we’ve played, watched, read, and done in the past week. We might as well just go ahead and get started with the post.

Okay, so I’ve played a little bit of Animal Crossing again in the past week. They added swimming and diving to what you can do. What makes that really amusing for me is that I chose a Southern Hemisphere island so while it is summer where I live in real life, in the game it is winter. So my little character is running around in the snow wearing a wet suit so she can jump in the ocean and look for sea creatures.

It’s time to talk about watches. I FINALLY SAW HAMILTON!!! Sorry for the all caps, but I have been wanting to see this show for four years now, and I could never afford the tickets, and I never had any luck with the lottery. Watching the filmed show on Disney+ was nice, but I definitely still want to see it live in a theater someday. Nothing can top the feeling and atmosphere of actually being in the room where it happens.

Let’s see. We finished watching season 4 of “Legends of Tomorrow” and decided to start a series re-watch of “Warehouse 13.” Oh, and I watched a little more of the first season of “Fruits Basket.”

Now let’s talk about reads that I’ve finished in the past week. I actually haven’t done a whole lot of reading over the past week. Okay fine, yes I’ve read something like 1500-ish pages, but I don’t know…reading 4 big volumes of manga just sometimes doesn’t feel like that big of an accomplishment. But maybe that’s just me being a bit too judgmental on myself. Anyway, I have completed Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Vol 5 by Natsuki Takaya, Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Vol 6 by Natsuki Takaya, Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Vol 7 by Natsuki Takaya, and Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition Vol 8 by Natsuki Takaya. I am now 2/3 of the way through the series. I have to give a big shout-out to my local library for having all the volumes I don’t own available to be borrowed. It has made this binge-read possible.

As for current reads…oh boy, I’m in the middle of a lot of books. Let’s see if I can remember them all. I am reading The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin, Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey, The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford, Blood of the Earth by Faith Hunter, and A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A Brown. I am enjoying all of them, but I think I’m having a case of ADD reading, because I’ll read a chapter or two out of one book and then just jump over to one of the others for no real reason. Like seriously, all of these books are great. Actually, the only one I haven’t bounced around on is Not Like the Movies, but I literally just picked it up at the bookstore yesterday and read it this morning while waiting for calling hours to start and then finish, so I’ve already made it halfway through the book. I might finish it tonight…or possibly tomorrow because I am pretty tired, and I still have to put in my couple hours of work for Colorworld tonight.

So when it comes to what I want to read next, well, obviously I definitely have plenty of books to finish reading at the moment, but I also already have an idea for what I’m going to read next.

A few of the books I’m reading are in preparation for an upcoming Colorworld LIVE panel, featuring authors Rachel E Kelly, Lance Conrad, and Russell Nohelty, which will take place on July 17th. Obviously I’m quite familiar with Rachel’s books, but I need to read at least a couple of Lance’s books, and I’m looking up Russell’s so I can try to squeeze one or two of those into my reading schedule. But I also have some books that I need to read for blog tour reviews and such, so I’m going to be pretty darn busy with reading this upcoming weekend. I should probably pick up some snacks and drinks and just have a 24 Hour Readathon day this weekend. Hmm…I might do that. Anybody want to join…say this upcoming Saturday, July 11th?

See? It’s a pretty decent stack. I have a lot to read. I still have another two weeks on the Fruits Basket volumes I borrowed from the library, but I would rather complete my binge-read and get those back to the library so they can sit in quarantine for a few days and then get back on the shelf so somebody else can read them.

All right. I think that’s enough random chatter from me. I have to go get to work now. But I would like to know…what are you reading right now? Let me know in the comments and I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

Weekly Wrap-Up (72) Hey all, Dani here. Okay, so this post is a little bit later than usual. We just got home from Damian's grandpa's funeral.

[filliteapot]

so, what shoujo manga are your cup of tea? can you mention what you wanted to say about dessert margaret, you got me interested

First of all: I do love shoujo manga. I enjoy romance stories and see no shame in this. Also I hate when people trash on shoujo only bc it’s shojo and go with that ‘omgnoanotherstupidromanceforteengirls’ as these people won’t ever admit that such a story may show something from a different perspective and is no worse than any generic shounen they praise. But at the same time I kinda get where they are coming from - as I also appreciate when the romance isn’t an end in itself, and characters aren’t walking tropes and I can feel like they have other problems than that. Joseis are more satisfying in this regard, so now I kinda switched to them (though sometimes the diffrence is thin). Soo— when I hear ‘Margaret’ I immediately think ‘oh and now we gotta talk about ROMANCE and NOTHING ELSE’ and in my current state of mind it’s kinda too little to get me interested. I love when you can see characters grow, change their vision of the world, solving problems with friends, parents, lovers, choose their own way to live and be themselves. I love when love interests are also important friends and people who support them. I love stories that make me feel like this world is a better place than we may think when we have hard times (even if these stories have some psychologically heavy stuff - but have some hope within).

So, choosing from shoujo, I guess I’m leaning towards older stuff from Hana to yume or Lala which may be named shoujo but is mature and serious (while having flowers and romance but let’s be honest there are flowers and romance in the real world too and no one calls it unnatural). So, I’m sharing my recs or things that caught my attention but I had no time or mood to get into them yet.

(It got longer in process than I expected, even if I included only things that came into my mind right away, so I put it under the cut.)

I started wriring this post thinking about nowadays series and in process learned about oldschool series that were serialized in these magazines and wrote a bit about them too.

Hana to yume

everything by Takaya Natsuki

Please save my earth by Hiwatari Saki

Tokyo crazy Paradise (need to finish) and Skip beat (need to READ) by Nakamura Yoshiki

NG life by Kusanagi Mizuho 

LaLa:

everything by Midorikawa Yuki

Mekakushi no kuni by Tsukuba Sakura (fffave)

Ouran High School Host Club by Hatori Bisco 

Kare Kano by Masumi Tsuda (need to read it, as i liked the beginning but put it on hold)

Betsuma (Bessatsu Margaret):

Ando Yuki’s works

Kimi ni Todoke by Shiina Karuho (i got an ask about this one recently, you may check it in my knt tag)

Cat Street by Kamio Yoko (it’s been years since I read this but I remember that characters growth and dealing with traumas were major themes and the story was quite hopeful)

Mashikaku Rock and other things  by Watanabe Kana (this author mostly writes short series or oneshotes but I adore her style and… idk, how real and kind they feel)

Margaret:

Sugars by Yamamori Mika

Futsuu no Koiko-san by Nagamu Nanaji

Short Cake Cake by Morishita Suu

Some works by oldschool authors like Ikeda Ryoko (Versailles no bara) and Honda Keiko were there too. Wow.

Dessert:

Ohayou Ibarahime by Morino Megumi (i still need to finish it but it surely is not a superficial story)

Koi Wazurai no Ellie by (idk it makes me laugh)

Mairimashita Senpai by Mase Azusa (not sure where its going but enjoyable so far)

Betsucomi - I seriously had no idea Basara and Kaze Hikaru were serialized here but they were. In short, some stuff from this magazine which isnt oldschool still seem more like josei to me.

Kirakira to Yoru ni Furu by Fujio Nami (my underrated and probably not scanlated all time fave)

Joou no Hana by Kaneyoshi Izumi (still need to contnue this one and also her new series as I liked the beginning)

stories by Motomi Kyosuke (i appreciate her humour and am kinda meh about her ‘serious and heavy’ parts of the plot but i couldn’t wrtite this post and ignore her)

Haruyuki Bus by Usami Maki (oneshotes collection, has average stories as well as good ones, I enjoyedit overall)

Tsuki to Mizuumi by Ashihara Hinako (i also tried her Piece but liked this oneshot collection better, esp the first story)

Gosh betsucomi even has stuff by Hagio Moto, an oldschool author I want to check